TY  - JOUR
A1  - Davis, Elizabeth Oneita
A1  - Crudge, Brian
A1  - Lim, Thona
A1  - O'Connor, David
A1  - Roth, Vichet
A1  - Hunt, Matt
A1  - Glikman, Jenny A.
T1  - Understanding the prevalence of bear part consumption in Cambodia : a comparison of specialised questioning techniques
T2  - PLoS one
N2  - The trade in bear parts for medicine and for status is a conservation challenge throughout Asia. The Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) are endemic to this region, and populations are estimated to have declined throughout their ranges due to widespread illegal killing of bears and trade in parts, combined with loss of habitat. Previous studies have indicated that legislation alone is insufficient to prevent illegal hunting and trade, indicating instead a need to address demand for bear parts and products. We conducted mixed-method surveys in Cambodia to understand the key motivators for individuals to consume bear parts, and to understand whether specialised questioning techniques are applicable in this context. Bear part use is illegal in Cambodia and may therefore be considered a sensitive behaviour, in that individuals may be reluctant to admit to it. To counteract possible biases, four specialised questioning techniques were used in this study: randomised response technique (RRT), unmatched count technique (UCT), nominative technique (NT), and false consensus bias (FCB). All four methods serve to shield a respondent’s admittance of a sensitive behaviour from the interviewer. The results presented here show that great variability exists in anonymous methods’ efficacy in certain contexts. However, the results overall indicate that individuals in Cambodia are under-reporting their consumption of bear parts when directly asked, and that the prevalence of bear part use in Cambodia may be as high as 15% of the population, representing a significant conservation challenge.
KW  - Bears
KW  - Cambodia
KW  - Wildlife
KW  - Asia
KW  - Bile
KW  - Collective human behavior
KW  - Traditional medicine
KW  - Gallbladder
Y1  - 2019
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/49144
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-491440
SN  - 1932-6203
N1  - Copyright: © 2019 Davis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
N1  - Correction erschienen in: PLoS one, volume 14, issue 3, e0214392 (2019), doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0214392
VL  - 14
IS  - (2): e0211544
SP  - 1
EP  - 17
PB  - PLoS
CY  - Lawrence, Kan.
ER  -